Gist Reports Rhode Island 'Race to the Top' Accomplishments

Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist issued a report this week at the final meeting of the Race to the Top Steering Committee, summarizing some of the major  accomplishments Rhode Island has attained through funding from federal Race to the Top grant.

 The initial four-year period of the grant ends this month, though the U.S. Department of Education has granted Rhode Island a one-year, no-cost extension to complete several initiatives that are still under development. By the end of the month, Rhode Island will have spent $71 million of the grant, with the remaining $4 million slated to be used by July 2015.

A copy of the report on accomplishments, along with a budget summary, is attached to this release; here is a list of the major accomplishments:

 Ensuring educator excellence:

• developed and implemented the Rhode Island Model for Educator Evaluation, including providing preparation for 800 evaluators;
• developed and implemented the Rhode Island Model for Support Professionals including providing preparation for 800 evaluators;
• designed and implemented a technology platform, the Educator Performance and Support System, to guide educators through the evaluation process;
• matched 800 beginning educators with induction coaches;
• built a new certification data system to process applications online;
• developed new standards for educator-preparation programs and the Rhode Island Educator preparation index;
• supported alternative pathways for entry into the teaching profession;
• supported 12 aspiring principals through the Academy for Transformative Leadership;
• implemented a statewide recruitment platform for use by districts seeking to hire educators; and
• explored compensation reform in two pilot projects.

Establishing world-class standards, curriculum, and assessments:

• provided professional development on the Common Core State Standards for more than 5,800 educators;
• developed resources on the Common Core for posting on the RIDE website;
• worked with educators in 28 districts to develop curriculum aligned with the Common Core in English Language Arts, mathematics, social studies, and science;
• implemented project-based learning, based on the Common Core and the Next Generation Science Standards, in Providence;
• supported districts in developing and using formative assessments and developed items for interim assessments in English, mathematics, science, and social studies; and
• developed items and performance tasks in English Language Arts, mathematics, social studies, and science. The item bank contains a total of 8,121 items (2,968 in Mathematics, 798 in Science, 2,704 in ELA, and 1,651 in Social Studies), and nine (9) Performance tasks in each content area.

Developing user-friendly data systems:

• provided professional development on data use to 290 school-based leadership teams;
• implemented and redesigned an Instructional Support System to provide educators with online resources on curriculum, instruction, and assessment; and
• created an Early Warning System to provide educators with timely information on students at risk.

Accelerating all schools toward greatness:

• designed a quarterly monitoring process to support the lowest-achieving schools;
• conducted Summer Leadership Institutes to help schools use data to design improvement plans;
• provided enhanced support for educator evaluation in districts with the lowest-achieving schools;
• supported two new charter public schools and the expansion of two existing charter public schools; and
• designed and implemented Virtual Learning Math Modules to support student progress in learning mathematics.

Managing our performance:

• completed nearly all Race to the Top projects on time and within budget;
  
• brought all participating school districts, charter public schools, and state-operated schools together to participate in Collaborative Learning for Outcomes sessions;
  
• submitted on time to the U.S. Department of Education all scopes of work, budgets, quarterly progress reports, and progress summary reports;
  
• participated in active progress monitoring with the U.S. Department of Education through monthly calls and reports and annual on-site visits; and
  
• received recognition from the U.S. Department of Education for the effectiveness of progress monitoring and quality assurance in Rhode Island.

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